In this renewal application, we seek to continue our highly successful training program in occupational/environmental epidemiology. We propose to continue our master's-level training, and add a new doctoral-level training program. The last review of this program encouraged us to develop a doctoral-level component of this training program, and we now propose to pursue this through a specialization in occupational/environmental epidemiology to be offered through the doctoral program of the Epidemiology Department. The training program will provide tuition coverage to two first-year and two second-year MSPH students each year and a stipend to one doctoral student each year. The curriculum provides rigorous training in analytical epidemiology and biostatistics, and a strong foundation in occupational and environmental health, including exposure assessment and industrial hygiene, occupational health policy, injury and toxicology. The program faculty members have active research programs providing excellent opportunities for thesis and dissertation research, and an extensive supporting faculty is available for mentoring. Since its inception in 1998, our MSPH training program has supported 24 outstanding students. Graduates of the MSPH program are pursuing productive career related to occupational/environmental epidemiology or additional doctoral-level training. The new doctoral-level training component will provide even more depth in training and produce graduates prepared to be leaders in this field. Relevance: Epidemiologic methods have emerged as one of the most important tools in the evaluation of health effects of occupational and environmental exposures. For each of the disease and injury priority research areas in the NIOSH National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA), epidemiologic research is an essential tool. This training program that combines training in epidemiologic skills and knowledge of the substantive area of occupational and environmental health will produce master's and doctoral-level graduates well prepared for research and public health practice careers in occupational epidemiology.
